Over the years, human security has been threatened, primarily by the small arms and light weapons, on a large scale, as they are distinctly inexpensive and are easy to construct, maintain and operate and conceal. States are sole legitimate source of weapon manufacturing and of their use against the anti-social and anti-national rudiments.
Sadly, these states have failed to maintain and sustain their monopoly over the manufacturing and use of such weapons. As a result, many illicit sources are producing the weapons domestically and are misusing them against mankind.
Today, these are the weapons of choice for insurgent groups who are indulged in violent struggle with the states and other groups or for the terrorists, criminals and underworld mafias. The misuse of such weapons results in the thousands of human causalities, disruptiilon of human development and creation of refugees’ crisis.
All these have led to human rights abuses, fuelling deadly conflicts, troubling humanitarian assistance and peace-keeping programmes. It therefore becomes imperative to control the diffusion of such weapons and misuse of such weapons to protect and promote human security and development, which again demands responsible attitudes on the part of human being as well as states.
Africa continues to bear the brunt, with heightened trafficking in small arms in West Africa and with the porous borders between different countries. It has become increasingly difficult to address the spread of these weapons. Small arms have been recycled in the West African countries of Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea and Burkina Faso. Rebel groups and criminal groups supply each other with arms in past and present conflict situations in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Liberia.
In the end, the proliferation of these weapons has undermined security sector reform (SSR). Nigeria has been challenged with the same phemonon in the last decade and half, a development previous governments have tried unsuccessfully to contain.
But the tide changed with the assumption of office by President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015. He demonstrated his commitment to tackling insecurity and tame proliferation of small arms and light weapons with the appointment of egg heads like Gen Muhammed Babagana Monguno (rtd) to head his security architecture. The National Security Adviser (NSA) has not only proved his mettle but surpassed the expectations of his critics.
Evidence, they say, is the end of argument. In recent times, the highthened security alert in Nigeria has reduced. Even in the Noth East, North West and other parts of the Nigeria, a new lease of life is beginning to bekcon. There have not been reported cases of Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks, unlike before. This feat cannot happen in a vacuum. Credit must be given to whom it is due, in which case, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Buhari.
Also, President Buhari’s National Security Adviser, Monguno must be generously comended for his doggedness in the war against terriorists. Most remarkable also is the containment of the proliferation of samll arms and light weapons, which poses existential threat to our collective security. The illicit proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons ranks among today’s most pressing security threats. Tens of thousands of people are killed or wounded each year in conflicts that are fought primarily with these weapons and in crime-ridden areas outside of conflict zones.
One of strategies adopted was decentralising the operation with the creation of six zonal offces in each geopolitical zone to monitor and enforce laws against small arms’ proliferation. The Buhari and Mongonu-led onslaught couldn’t have come at a better time than now that serious concerns are beginning to emerge, with the 2023, general elections approaching. More than ever, there’s need to curb the menace of insecurity in other to conduct best democratic elections without violence
The air of hope and optimism that has characterised the Buhari presidency can be attributed to the competence of his team, especially the National Security Adviser, Gen Monguno. Without a pinch of doubt, Monguno has proven that he towers above his equals in his professional callings. Indeed, he is a deft security/intelligence czar.
For Gen Monguno, no doubt, the role of intelligence gathering in a nation’s security architecture cannot be overemphasised. That is where the dexterity of the Chief Spy Officer lies. As a man who has spent quality working years in the intelligence community, organising a viable security system for Nigeria is like a walk in the park. Before he took over as the National Security Adviser to President Buhari in 2015, the country’s security architecture was in a shambles but seven years down the line, the story is different.
Noose has been tightened around terror groups terrorising Nigerians and the terrorist groups have almost been defeated, even as all territorial extensions have been returned to the sovereignty of Nigeria. We must be objective; it is incontrovertible that what is obtainable today is far more than in 2014 when lives all around Nigeria were becoming poor, nasty, brutish and short. Lest we forget so soon, 17 local government areas in Borno State alone were under the control of Boko Haram, with their flag firmly hoisted.
The ingenuity and courage of the NSA must be commended for confronting and winning the fight against insurgency. From records, General Monguno is a renowned security expert and a retired Nigerian military general. He was the Chief of Defence Intelligence from July 2009 to September 2011 and the Commander of the Brigade of Guards from 2007 to 2009.
As Nigeria’s number one spy master, Monguno has a natural, adaptable and high functioning ability to interact with others. Social interaction as a spy will take many different forms, requiring you to be comfortable associating with the entire spectrum of personality types.
Monguno, as the National Security Adviser from 2015 to date, has acted in his best to recover the local governments controlled by the Boko Haram terrorists and ensuring that Nigerians put the nightmare of Boko Haram behind them. This is the greatest height of professionalism and it could be said of the NSA to be the best choice of President Buhari for courageously doing his work.
Each administration has always set the guidelines for intelligence activities and, within these guidelines, establish in a timely fashion specific requirements and priorities for the conduct of these activities.
Under Gen Monguno, the Nigerian intelligence community is saddled with two broad functions—collection and analysis—and one relatively narrow one, covert action. An additional function, counterintelligence, is integral to the entire intelligence process. In the forthcoming general elections, we are set to see the best of these efforts as President Buhari is poised to deliver free fair and credible elections, with his NSA readily available to provide the enabling playground with adequate security.
Ibrahim is director of Communications and Strategic Planning of the Presidential Support Committee (PSC).
